Parallel and sequential information processing in animals as a function of different hemispheres.

The procedure of motor-food conditioned reflexes in conjunction with unilateral decortication of the hemispheres by means of spreading depression was used in experiments on 53 rats. Differentiation of geometric figures, combined into simultaneous complexes or chain stimuli, presented simultaneously or sequentially, was developed. It was shown that lateralization of predominant disturbances of analysis depends not on the type of stimuli used, but on the nature of their presentation. In the case of simultaneous presentation, the most profound disturbances occurred after the right hemisphere was disconnected, and in the case of sequential presentation, as a result of inactivation of the left hemisphere. The presence of a simultaneous processor in the right hemisphere of the animals and a sequential processor in the left is suggested.